Absolute brightness was absolute darkness. That was a simple fact many people understood. Prince Long Qing was inspired by this in the Headmaster’s illusion test when he competed with Ning Que. As the owner of the illusion, how could the Headmaster not understand? Just like he felt: the great Way makes everything the most simple.
Ning Que had read the “Ming” Handscroll and Buddha’s notes. He and Sangsang had been considered as the Son and Daughter of Yama when they were in the Desolate Man’s tribe. He had a deep understanding of the related knowledge of Yama. Hearing his teacher and recalling the books he had read, he worked out the problems that had bothered him for a long time.
The Desolate Man’s tribe called Yama Lord Guang Ming in the ceremony, who was the Lord of Light. There were many records about the Unmovable King also in the notes of the Buddhism Sect and that should be the Invariant Yama.
“Ming” was the Light.
The Lord of Light was Yama.
However, he still couldn’t believe it, or he didn’t want to believe it. Looking at the Headmaster and Sangsang, he was in pain and said, “It doesn’t make sense. Why did Haotian do such things? Was it too boring or did it make fun of the world?”
“It never cracks jokes. It did everything for a reason.”
The Headmaster looked at him and said, “Haotian did so many things: it lied to the world and played a huge trick. Besides the preparation of the Everlasting Night, the main target is me.”
“At the moment when we were in the Wilderness, it successfully made me believe that Sangsang was the Daughter of Yama and allowed me to put human power into her body.”
“I told you the way I fought against Haotian was hiding in the human world which was safe. It is dangerous again.”
“But Haotian didn’t find you anyway.”
“I am the human world and the human power was a part of me. Now, the part of me is inside Sangsang. From that moment, it found me.”
The Headmaster looked at Sangsang and said with a smile, “During these days, it is watching me and I am watching it. That was why I could not taste meat and I have to look for meat all over the world with you.”
Looking at the willow’s shadow in the river, Sangsang became sad like the time when she found the Headmaster was angry in the Wilderness, trembling and confused.
“Actually, I had realized that my fate was connected with yours for a long time. I am involved in human affairs and unable to see through it all. On the contrary, your Eldest Brother had a stronger perception than me.
“When he came back from the Wilderness that year, he tried to keep Sangsang away from me. At that time, he considered Sangsang as the Daughter of Yama, but he never expected the truth to be like this.
“I don’t believe in fate. I even don’t believe my fate will be intertwined with hers. In fact, under the will of Heaven, everything is doomed.”
Looking at Ning Que, he added, “I saw you coming out of the woodshed; I saw her birth; I saw the blood in the woodshed and the little darkish baby girl in Mrs. Zeng’s room eighteen years ago. I just didn’t know what those meant to me at that time.”
“Since she became the Daughter of Yama in the Lanke Temple, and you both were hunted by the world, I had many chances to do something, but I didn’t. I believed at that time, I had felt something, so I just wanted to hold off.”
Ning Que sadly said, “Then what changed you?”
The Headmaster bitterly smiled after a while and said, “I don’t know… probably because I was really tired of being alive and eager to see my ending, so I decided to break the barrier in my heart and have a fight against that fellow in heaven.”
“Don’t rush to criticize me.”
He smiled and said, “You should blame your Youngest Uncle. Over thousands of years of cultivation, even if I had calmed down enough, he insisted on fighting against the heavens with a poor sword which pissed me off decades ago. Cutting the peaches in the Peach Mountain could only vent my anger it a little. I will break out after all.”
Ning Que quaveringly said, “Is it inevitable?”
Pointing at Sangsang, the Headmaster said, “As I said earlier, a part of me is in her body. It is watching me and so am I. It knows where I am and so do I. I can’t turn down its invitation anymore. It is imperative.”
Ning Que was thinking, painfully. He tried his best with all his experience to think until he came up with something in his mind. His eyes suddenly brightened and he said, “No… if Yama is Haotian, why does it allow the Everlasting Night to fall?”
“I was thinking about this problem these days as well. If this world is a land, Haotian is a hard farmer who harvests year after year. After so many years, even the best land will need a rest. The Everlasting Night should be the time to rest.”
“There is another possibility: as this world develops, human beings constantly multiply; the world is developed; the cultivators, as well as the powerhouses who are beyond the Five States, become more and more. Even if Haotian has enough food, it begins to fear. When we were boiling mutton in the Wilderness, I told you that although a lion is strong enough, when facing enough buffalos it would die in the end.”
“The ants are small, but if plenty of ants can fly into the sky, they will cover the whole sky. Now I remember that when the Buddha said everyone could be Buddha, he was telling the fact.”
Ning Que said, “You are saying Haotian is afraid of human beings thriving, so it drops a catastrophe to destroy the world when it is on the edge?”
The Headmaster said, “It should be the truth. Of course, this is only a deduction from you and me. As for the truth, it will be known when I face Haotian.”
Ning Que suddenly said, “I understand.”
After a moment of silence, the Headmaster said, “I also understand.”
Ning Que said, “Teacher, you are wrong; Youngest Uncle was wrong; Lotus was right.”
The Headmaster said with a sigh, “Yes, it seems that he was right.”
Ning Que said, “Is it too late?”
“I am on the way and can’t turn around. But this is my story and I will try it in my own way. As for the story in the future, it is your story.”
Ning Que said, “I am worried that I am unable to write this story.”
“There is no Yama, but we can also say that there are many Yamas: Haotian is Yama because it will punish the world with the Everlasting Night; I am Yama because I want to overthrow it; She is Yama because she is Haotian; You are Yama because you came from another world where there was extreme cold in most of the world. If I can’t, then you have to do it.”
He looked at him and said, “In fact, from the day you began to cultivate, you had the power to change the world. From now on, it is your turn.”
Ning Que was looking at Sangsang.
His feeling was very complicated. No subtle words could describe it: strange, familiar, sad, sorrow, fear, or hesitation.
He seemed to want to say something but in the end, he didn’t.
He looked up at the sky above his head, which was divided into many areas by willow branches, and asked, “Teacher, are you confident?”
The Headmaster sighed and said, looking at the sky, “It is the first time for me. How can I be confident?”
For countless years, the Headmaster had been thinking about how to defeat Haotian. He had come up with many methods: he kept avoiding it; he kept thinking on the academic and spiritual levels, but he never practiced them.
All at once, Sangsang raised her head up to the sky, peacefully.
Then she looked back at the Headmaster.
She said, “In fact, I don’t have the confidence to beat you, either.”
Sangsang’s feet left the riverside meadow.
She drifted over Sishui River. Her short yellow hair suddenly became dark and long in the next moment, covering her shoulder like a waterfall, seemingly like countless rays of light.
Her black eye pupils turned fast into white and permeated with the rest of her eyes. Then they became transparent with a faint holy light around her.
Two completely different emotions appeared on Sangsang’s face: the human Sangsang was anxious and in pain; the other Sangsang was totally indifferent as the girl once appeared on the carriage when they were in the Wilderness.
Absolute indifference: divine indifference which repelled lives and joy.
Looking at her, Ning Que felt that his heart was torn into pieces like willow branches, painfully and bleeding from his mouth. He reached out to grab her feet.
The Headmaster sighed and slightly waved his sleeve, freezing him on the riverside.
Sangsang’s body kept changing over the river: her thin body gradually became fit, breaking open her black clothes and turning into countless threads, revealing the naked skin.
Her expression became more and more pained as her black long hair fluttered with the wind, twisting and struggling as if she was trapped in a net. Then she gradually calmed, leaving only indifference.
The fragmented clothes slipped off smoothly like water and her bright skin showed up.
The thin, ordinary and sick Sangsang was gone and a beautiful and naked Sangsang showed up in the world, who was perfect in both body and face.
The perfect body and appearance matched with the holy and indifferent divinity look, just as the Goddess’ Statue of Haotian enshrined in many temples of Haotian Taoism. The only difference between Sangsang and the Goddess was her skin color which was still as dark as usual.
Both Sangsang of the City of Wei and the one of Old Brush Pen Shop had a dark body.
However, her feet were magically white as jade, like two snow lotuses.
Looking at her, the Headmaster sighed and said, “Her body is in the darkness while her feet are stepping the light. I see now.”